It’s summer, and Costco has Vidalia Onions! For our first BBQ of the summer, I poked around the web and my cookbooks with the goal of developing a beer batter to deep fry those puppies. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1.25 c all-purpose flour
- 1 t salt
- Cayenne pepper
- 1 T vegetable oil (I used lime-infused grape seed oil)
- 2 beaten egg yolks
- 1.5 c beer (I used Guinness at room temperature)
- 2 large sweet onions, peeled
- 2 c buttermilk
- 1/c c all-purpose flour
- Peanut oil for frying
- Salt
Preparation
In a shallow bowl, mix the flour, salt, a pinch of pepper; add the oil and egg yolks. Whisk in the beer, gradually, until lump-free. Add more beer if you’d like a lighter batter, because it thicken during refrigeration. Refrigerate the batter at least 3 hours before cooking the onions. (Overnight is fine, but you’ll want to cover the bowl.)
Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Place a baking rack on a sheet pan on the middle rack.
Slice onions into 3/8-1/2″ thick rings and separate them. Cover with buttermilk; let sit 15 minutes then drain. Arrange bowls of drained buttermilk-soaked onion rings, seasoned flour and beer batter on the counter. Dredge rings in flour, shake off excess; then dip into the batter, shake off excess; then fry that batch.
Deep-fry in batches in 370° oil until golden brown, 2-3 minutes each side; be sure to turn once. Drain on paper towels or in colander, season with salt, then transfer to the baking sheet to keep warm. Serves 6. Accompaniments: ketchup, tartar sauce, spicy mustard.
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